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Is Canelo Tarnishing His Legacy?

In boxing’s post Mayweather/Pacquiao era, 25-year-old reigning WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has all the tools needed to take over as the face of boxing, and some may argue that he already has.

With the looks, the experience, the bone crushing knockout power, and the promotional backing of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, Alvarez has quickly transformed into a bona fide pay-per-view (PPV) star.

With that being said, you may be confused as to where the title of this piece comes from, but could it be true? Is “Canelo” Alvarez tarnishing his legacy?

Well, let’s take a closer look.

After locking up a unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto last November to capture the vacant WBC title, hardcore boxing fans had hoped that Alvarez would next take on middleweight destroyer and reigning WBA, IBF, IBO, and Interim WBC title holder Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.

In fact, Golovkin still serves as the WBC’s mandatory challenger to “Canelo’s” throne, but the two sides agreed to take interim bouts in the meantime with the highly-anticipated clash hopefully taking place next fall.

Alvarez, on the other hand, will defend his title against former 147-pound champion Amir “King” Khan on HBO pay-per-view this Saturday night.

(HBO’s 24 /7 series episode 2 on the fight):

While Khan is a former champion, and a fighter that possesses some of the fastest hands in the sport, Alvarez’s decision to fight him was a questionable one at best.

In reality, Khan is essentially a welterweight, meaning that “Canelo” passed up on a bout with “GGG” to fight a smaller, likely less dangerous opponent.

Those who feel as if the Mexican star is ducking Golovkin may have a point here.

Not only that, but “Canelo” will once again be fighting at a catch weight of 155 pounds instead of at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds.

Team Alvarez has even indicated that Golovkin would have to come down in weight to make the potential fight a reality.

On top of all of that, there have been reports indicating that Golden Boy promotions may look to push the Alvarez-Golovkin bout even further back to 2017.

In the end, here’s a summarization of my main points: It simply appears as if “Canelo” Alvarez, the lineal middleweight champion of the world, elected not to take on the most feared man in boxing, instead electing to face off with a welterweight at a weight not even at the true middleweight limit.

This may sound harsh, and I’m truly not looking to bash on Alvarez. He’s a world class fighter, and a star in a sport desperately in need of big names, but could he be much more?

Boxing is longing for big fights, and perhaps none possess more meaning than Alvarez-Golovkin.

“Canelo” may have to change his tune a bit in order to make this contest happen, however, because if he doesn’t, it could hurt him in the long run.